Under the collaboration, Thai shoppers will soon benefit from additional payment choices, including the option to pay using 123 Payments and through wider card and bank acceptance through 2C2P’s partner network.

Other benefits include quicker transaction-processing times, enhanced security against transaction fraud, and for the first time, instalment payment plans offered by leading partner banks.

Facebook launches free Internet.org application

Facebook has launched the Internet.org app to bring the “next billion” online.

Guy Rosen, product management director, said that with this app, people can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges.

By providing free basic services via the app, Facebook hopes to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise have found.

“The Internet.org app will be available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia and we’ll continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world,” he said..

“Over 85 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, yet only about 30 per cent of the total population accesses the Internet. Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to Internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the Internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services,” he added.

Sanook.com, CTH tie up for live EPL viewing

Sanook.com has joined hands with pay-TV operator CTH to launch packages allowing Thais to watch live broadcasts of all English Premier League football matches on the Sanook.com website during the upcoming season.

Jakraphan Pwongkaew, vice president of Online Media, Sanook Online, said Sanook.com’s 24.5 million unique visitors each month gave the company confidence that the website will be an interesting key platform enhancing EPL viewership this coming season.

CTH is the sole authorised broadcaster of the league in Thailand, and Sanook.com is the only broadcasting website partner.

“We believe that Sanook.com will add significantly more viewers to CTH,” said Jakraphan.

There is a dedicated cth.sanook.com channel, on which viewers can watch live broadcasts of matches from August 16 onwards.

The campaign will be available on PCs and laptops using both the Windows and Mac OS systems.

Chirdsak Kukiattinun, CEO of CTH, said his company’s strategy is to share CTH everywhere, in order to penetrate the market from the home segment of cable and satellite dish through to the Internet.